Andrew Lincoln (‘The Walking Dead’): ‘I may have been a cheese-maker’ if I never got role of Rick Grimes

Sunday night on a special two-hour live episode of “Talking Dead” that followed “The Walking Dead” Season 8 premiere, Andrew Lincoln considered what his life might have been like if he never got the role of Rick Grimes. “I may have been a cheese-maker,” he told “Talking Dead” host Chris Hardwick at the Greek Theater in Downtown Los Angeles. Lincoln then added, “Or a pig farmer.”

Lincoln recalled that he and David Morrissey (The Governor) used to joke on set that “we were the only actors in British equity that hadn’t been in the ‘Harry Potter’ franchise. So maybe I would have been wizarding about Hogwarts. Or hobbiting about Middle Earth. And I’ve always fancied the idea of getting my hands around a light saber.” As the packed Greek Theater laughed and applauded, Lincoln conceded, “But probably a cheese-maker.”

In regards to the show’s 100th episode, titled “Mercy,” Lincoln said that it felt “like Christmas” when Rick finally got to wage war against Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). After a season where Rick was beaten down by the baseball bat-wielding baddie, Lincoln is happy to once again portray a character who’s on the offense. “I’m gonna unpackage pain in fresh and unimaginable ways on the doorstep of Negan,” Lincoln remarked with a smirk.